Electric lamp bulb changer



A. L. ODENTHAL ELECTRIC LAMP BULB CHANGER March 13, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Jan. 26, 1950 014- ATTORNEY Mamh 13,1951 A. LfODENTH AL ELECTRICLAMP BULB CHANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 26, 1950 H M m w 4 iatented 13, 195i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC LAMP BULB CHANGERAlvin L. Odenthal, Los Angeles, Calif. Application January 26, 1950,Serial No; 140,685

16 Claims.

This invention relates to an electric lamp bulb changer.

More specifically speaking the invention pertains to an electric lampbulb changer wherein a pole carried, elastic applicator cup, which isapplied to the lamps to mount and demount them, is furnished-with avalve controlled air supply means for controlling the air pressure inthe applicator cup to cause it to adhere to or release the lamps beinghandled.

Among the objects of the invention are: to provide an overhead lampchanging device wherein an applicator member carried by a pole orelongated handle and controlled by variations of air pressure between itand the lamps, can be efiiciently operated without the use of cords orother elongated members extending longitudinally of the handle; toprovide improved valve means to control the flow of air into and outfrom the space bounded by the lamp bulb and the applied applicatormember, and in conjunction with this feature to provide improved controlsprings for said valve means; to provide an improved combination of anelastic vacuum applicator cup and underlying plate or disk to stabilizesaid cup and aid in controlling its operation; and to provide a per seimproved elastic applicator cup which is new in the combination of whichit forms a part and which also is a separately saleable article ofmanufacture purchasable by the user of the device to replace theapplicator when it becomes worn out or defective because of long use.

The device is adapted to perform its lamp bulb changing function in aspeedy manner and with a maximum degree of safety to guard againstbreakage of the fragile glass lamp bulbs being handled.

Another object is to provide an improved combination of applicator cupand air release valve whereby less pressure of the cup against the bulbsis necessary, thus making it possible to exchange them with less dangerof breaking them.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafterappear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferredembodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the complete device showing the sameapplied to an overhead lamp bulb, upper and lower parts of the structureshown being broken away to contract the length of the view. In this viewthe bottom wall of the applicator cup is shown in inwardly compressedform from its normal bulged condition shown in Fig. 2, a considerableportion of the air within the cup 2 having escaped through the valvestructure shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Fig. 2 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section, thesectioned portion of the view being on the plane indicated by line 2-2on Fig. l. Dotted lines" are used to show certain parts in a differentoperative position than shown in full lines. The applicator cup is shownwith its bottom wall in the bulged condition it normally assumes.

Fig. 3 is a view partly in vertical midsection and partly in sideelevation showing the air suction control valve slightly open. The lampglobe, applicator cup and its base plate are omitted and only 'a smallfragment of the operating handle is shown.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but on a larger scale, showing moreclearly the annular clearance between the end portion of the pole andthe cylindrical shank which affords the passage of air when the bulb ispressed against the cup.

Referring in detail to the drawing, therein is shown an applicator cup5, made of rubber or other elastic material and having a circular mouthportion 6 dimensioned for use in removing and replacing an overheadelectric lamp bulb I. Said applicator cup 5 is shown connected with theinner end portion of a pole 8 by an assembly of mounting means 9, whichconsists of a plurality of parts presently to be described.

The side wall of the applicator cup 5 progressively thickens inwardlyfrom its comparatively thin mouth portion 6, thus providing a thickenedannular wall portion II in a streamline exterior relation to thecomparatively thin convex bottom wall portion 12 of said cup 5. The cup5 is thus provided with a circumferentially, inwardly directed ledge orshoulder l3, the inner edge portion of which joins the inner surface ofthe cup at less than a right angle thus increasing the extent of thecompressible bottom wall l2. The object of constructing the wall of thecup in this manner is to furnish it with a sturdy mouth portion forapplication to the lamp bulbs and at the same time render the cupsbottom portion easily compressible so as readily to expel a considerableportion of the air from the cup by pressing its mouth portion upwardlyagainst a lamp bulb and thereupon, by releasing the upward pressureagainst the applicator cup the bottom portion thereof will react tocause it to approach its normal position, thereby creating within thecup a suction which will cause the lamp to adhere to the mouth of thecup with sufiicient firmness to enable the operator to screw the bulbinto or unscrew it from its socket.

The bottom wall I2 of the cup 5 is shown having through it a centralaperture, and around said aperture the cups bottom has a circular basalhead [4. A concavo-convex disk l5 having its concave face directedupwardly, underlies said bead, said disk also having through it acentral aperture. Underlying said disk is a mounting nut I l which hasthrough it an axial bore l8, said nut ll also having an upstanding axialtubular extension is, which is externally screwthreaded and onto theupper end portion of which is screwed down a retaining nut 2| whichabuts against the bottom of the cup 5 so as to cause the latter to fitin an air tight manner around said extension 19.

The aforesaid bore 18 through the 'nut 11 is provided with adiametrically enlarged lower end portion 22, and within said bore isfitted a tubular elastic valve seat member 23 which has at its lower enda diametrically enlarged valve seat forming portion 24 which fits withinsaid bore enlargement 22.

The aforesaid mounting nut Il may be made integral with the underlyingmeans whereby it is supported, but is shown with its lower end portionscrewed into the upper end portion of a rigid tubular connection 25 withan axial bore 26 extending through the greater portion of its length andterminating at the lower end of an axial downward extension 27 withwhich said connection 25 is provided. Said extension 21 slidablsurrounds the diametrically reduced pole portion 28 and has, in each ofopposite sides a closed, longitudinal slot 29. The pole end portion 28carries stop screws 30 which slidably project through said slots andprevent relative rotation between the pole and member 25. The slidingfit between the pole portion 28 and bore 25 is sufliciently loose toallow air to flow into and escape from the superjacent applicator cup,esspecially when the device is being applied to the lamp bulb l, atwhich time the stop screws 38 are at the upper limit of their travel inslots 29, as shown in Fig.2. However, when the pole 8 has been pulled tothe dotted line position in Fig.

. 2 or 'full line position of Fig. 3, air will more readily flow throughthe slotted part of the tubular extension 2'! (as indicated by thearrows in Fig. 3) to relieve the suction in the applicator cup.

With the aforementioned valve seat 22 cooperates a dish shaped valve 32located in a valve chamber 32a formed by expanding the 7 upper endportion of said tubular connection 25.

Said valve has an upstanding central extension 33 small enough to leavearound it a clearance in the lower end portion of the passage throughcompression spring 36 cooperates with said hooks yieldingly to maintainsaid valve 32 in a normally seated condition. The lower end of saidspring 36 is diametrically enlarged and rests upon a narrow annularshoulder 37 intervening between the upper'end of the valve seat member23 and the interior surface of the basal part of the aforementionedtubular extension i9.

4 The valve 32 normally functions as a check valve which permits onlyoutflow of air from the applicator cup.

A lost motion connection shown as a chain 49 has its upper end centrallyattached to the lower side of the valve 32 and has its lower endattached to the center of the diametrically reduced end portion 28 ofthe pole 8. Said chain does not operate to open the valve unless thepole end portion 28 is withdrawn from the valve a greater distance thanthat indicated by full lines in Fig. 2, which show the stop screws 30engaging the upper ends of the slots 29 in which they operate.

A coiled tension spring 42 (much stronger than the valve spring 36),coiled loosely around the: inner end portion of the pole 8, is welded orotherwise attached at its upper end to the rigid con-- nection 25, asindicated at 43, and at its lower end is attached by a fastener 44 tothe pole 8.

This spring normally maintains the stop screws 33' in contact with theupper ends of the slots 29 in. which they travel, during which time thespring loaded valve 32 remains seated. At such times: as the valve 32 isopened by traction applied to the'chain 40, the air will flow betweenthe pole end portion 28 and surrounding structure with a sufficientfrceness to admit air pressure to and allow air to flow out from theapplicator cup as out therefrom through the cylindrical valve seatmember 23 and past the valve 32, which the outgoing air will force openin opposition to the valve spring 36. After passing said valve the airwill flow out between the cylindrical shank 21 of the member 25 and thepole around which said shank loosely fits as indicated by thedirectional flow arrows in Fig. 4. Thereupon the workman will releaseupward force against the cup sufficiently to allow the bottom wall 12thereof to react and create a partial vacuum within the cup, which, inturn, will firmly hold the bulb to the cup so that, by turning the poleabout its axis the bulb can be unscrewed. The fact that the cup has thereinforcing plate 15 under it and the inwardly directed annular ledge I3at about itsmidheight, facilitates the aforesaid air suction controlresulting from cup deformation.

In the operation of mounting a new bulb the workman, while holding thepole in one hand an! the bulb in the other, will first press the basalportion of the bulb against the mouth portion of the applicator cup withsufficient force to inbend to some extent the bottom wall 12 of the cup,so that, when he lets go of the 'bulbthe elasticity of said bottom wallwill cause it to create a bulbretaining 'rarefaction of the air in theapplicator cup. Then the new bulb can safely be elevated to, and screwedinto its socket, and thereupon by apnlling down slightly upon the poleagainst the mounted bulb.

- Owing to the partly thick a d partl th s a .structure. of theapp ba fi91 D, $109M Fi the hemispherically shaped thin bottom wall pora tion [2can be greatly compressed until its upper part engages the circular,downwardly facing shoulder or ledge l3; thus providing for an efiicientrarefaction of the air under the bulb when said wall portion I2 isrestored to normal contour by reason of normal air pressure beingrestored within the cup as a result of a slight downward pull upon thepole operating the chain 4!! and opening the valve 32. The facility withwhich the thin bottom wall portion l2 of the cup can be depressed isincreased by reason of the aforesaid annular shoulder l3 being undercutin such a manner that it is so inclined as to its width as to positionits radially outer part at a higher level than its radially inward part,this arrangement increasing the upward extent of the thin, compressiblebottom wall portion of the cup.

It will be observed that, both in the operation of unscrewing anoverhead bulb and of screwing a new bulb into its overhead socket, acontrolled suction within the applicator cup causes it to adhere firmlyto the lamp bulb being handled, so that when the pole is used 'to turnthe applied cup the latter will engage the lamp bulb with good torsionresisting friction, and, therefore, this necessary friction is obtainedwithout using so much force in pressing the cup and bulb against eachother as to endanger breaking the latter. Hence the device can be safelyused to mount and demount fragile lamp bulbs.

I claim:

1. In a device for changing overhead electric lamp bulbs, a pole, atubular connection having an upwardly directed mouth portion and a lowerend portion slidably surrounding the inner end portion of said pole, amounting nut having a screwthreaded lower end portion screwed into themouth portion of said connection, said nut having through it an axialbore which is diametrically enlarged at its lower end, said nut havingat its upper end an axial cylindrical, tubular extension which isexternally screwthreaded, a cup shaped applicator having a flexiblemouth dimensioned to fit electric lamp bulbs and a centrally aperturedbottom surrounding said tubular extension in an air tight manner, aretaining nut for said cup screwed down onto the outer part of saidtubular extension into a clamping engagement with the bottom of saidcup, a tubular elastic valve seat member fitted within said bore throughthe aforesaid mounting nut and having a diametrically enlarged valveseat forming end portion occupying the diametrically enlarged lower endportion of said bore, a valve cooperating with said valve seat tocontrol the flow of air through said tubular elastic member and into theaforesaid applicator cup, a valve opening lost motion connectionconnecting saidvalve with the inner end of said pole, spring loadedmeans operating through said tubular valve seat member and connectedwith said valveyieldingly to urge it toward its seat, and a tensionspring carried by the inner portion of said pole and connected with saidtubular connection normally to restrain the latter against sliding awayfrom its inmost position in relation to the pole when said pole isoperated to slide it outwardly in relation to the lower end portion ofsaid tubular connection, said lost motion connection opening said valvein opposition to its aforesaid spring loaded means, there being airpassage means between the lower end portion of said tubular connectionand the part of the pole which it surrounds to admit air to and throughsaid valve seat and thence to the determined distance, and a applicatorcup when said valve is opened as afor'e said.

2. In a device for changing overhead electric lamp bulbs, an applicatorcup having a flexible mouth adapted to fit electric lamp bulbs in an airtight manner, a pole, mounting means for said applicator cup, saidmounting means being attached to the inner end portion of said pole,there" being air passage means through said mounting means leading fromthe interior of said cup to the atmosphere, a valve carried by saidmounting means, spring loaded means connected with said valve andnormally positioning it to prevent inflow of air through said airpassage means to said cup, said mounting means being so connected withsaid pole as to be slightly movable lengthwise of the latter, a springpositioned to oppose outward movement of said mounting means in relationto said pole, and a lost motion,

connection between said pole and valve.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, and said ap-- plicator cup having aconvex bottom wall the central portion of which is attached to saidmounting means, and a concave-convex reinforcing disk of rigid materialinterposed between said bottom wall and said mounting means with itsconcave side directed toward said bottom wall.

4. In a device for changing overhead electric lamp bulbs, an applicatorcup having a flexible mouth adapted to fit electric lamp bulbs in an airtight manner, a pole, mounting means for said cup, said mounting meansbeing attached to the inner end portion of said pole, there being airpassage means through said mounting means leading from the interior ofsaid cup to the outer atmosphere, a valve carried by said mountingmeans, a spring operatively connected with said valve and normallyholding the latter in a, position wherein it closes said air passagemeans against admission of air therethrough to the in terior of saidcup, said mounting means being connected with said pole in such a manneras to be slightly movable lengthwise of the axis of the latter, a lostmotion connection extending from said pole to said valve, saidconnection opening said valve when the pole is moved outwardly inrelation to said mounting means beyond a pre second spring stronger thanthe first recited spring and positioned to oppose movement of said poleaway from said mounting means,

5. The subject matter of claim 4, and said lost motion connectionconsisting of a chain one end of which is fastened to the bottom of saidvalve and the opposite end of which is secured centrally to the innerend of said pole.

6. The subject matter of claim 4, and said mounting means carryingstop'means limiting the movement of the pole theretoward, and said lostmotion connection allowing a slight movement of said pole away from saidstop means before the lost motion connection opens said valve.

'7. In a device for changing overhead electric lamp bulbs, an applicatorcup having a flexible mouth adapted to fit the bulbs in an air tightmanner, a pole, mounting means for said cup, said mounting means beingattached to the inner end portion of said pole, there being air passagemeans through said mounting means leading from the interior of said cupto the outer atmosphere, a check valve carried by said mounting meansand normally permitting only outflow of air from said cup, a springconnected with said valve normally holding it closed against inflow 7 ofair to said cu and a flexible connection connecting said valve with theinner end of said pole to open said valve when the pole is movedoutwardly in relation to said mounting means beyond a predetermineddistance.

8. In a device for changing overhead electric lamp bulbs, an elastic.applicator cup having a mouth portion applicable to conventionalelectric lamp bulbs, a pole, a mounting means for said cup carried by anend portion of said pole in a slidable relation to the length of thelatter, there being an air passage through said mounting means to supplyair to said cup, av check valve carried by said mounting means and.positioned to control inflow of air to said cupthrough said passage,spring means normally holding said check valve closed, and a flexibleconnection connecting said pole with said valve and operable to open itto admit air to said cup when said pole is moved away from said valve.

9. The subject matter of claim 8, and a rigid disk carried by saidmounting means in. an underlying relation to said cup where-against tocollapse the latter during the movement of said pole theretoward.

10. The subject matter of claim 8, and said spring means acting uponsaid valve tov move it upwardly when the cup is applied to an overheadlamp bulb, and a stronger spring means connecting said pole with saidmounting means and positioned to oppose sliding movement of saidmounting means toward the upper end of the pole when said cup is appliedto an overhead lamp.

ll. An applicator for use. in exchanging overhead electric lamp bulbs,comprising;. an elastic cup having a circular mouth surrounded by a thinlip, the: side, wall of the cup, progressively thickening from saidliptoward the bottom of the cup to approximately the mid-height of thecup; the remaining lower portion, of the cup having, a thinned wallwhich is; hemispherically shaped and has a central bottomaperture,.there being at the juncture of said thinned wall withsaidrthickened wall a downwardly facing annular ledge or shoulder formedby the lower. end of said thickenedwall portiom 12. The subject matterof claim L1, and said annular shoulder-being so inclined as to its widthso as to position its outer peripheral portion at a higher level thanitsinner peripheral portion, thus increasing the upwardextent of thethinwalled bottom ortion: of the cup.

13. In a device for exchangingv overhead electric lamp bulbs, saiddevice including an elestic,

- pole-carried applicator cup; a rigid tubular connection having anaxial air passage through it which communicates with the applicator cupand attaches the latter to one end portion of the pole, a valve seat insaid passage, a spring loaded check valve cooperating with said valveseat and normally positioned to allow air to flow therethrough only fromsaid cup, a rigid abutment member between said tubular connection andcup to deform the latter and thereby expel air therefrom when the cup isapplied to an overhead lamp bulb and pressed thereagainst by the pole,said tubular connection having a limited slidin movement upon the polein the direction of the length of the latter, and a flexible connectionconnecting said valve and pole and operable to open the valve when thepole is slid away therefrom beyond a predetermined distance.-

14. The subject matter of claim 13, and said rigid abutment member beinga disk interposed between said tubular connection and elastic cup, saiddisk having a concave face in an abuttable relation to the bottom ofsaid cup.

15. In a device for exchanging overhead electric lam bulbs, said deviceincluding an elastic pole-carriedapplicator cup; a tubular rigidconnection having an axial air passage through it which communicateswith the applicator cup, said tubular connection securing said cup toone end portion of the pole, a valve seat in said passage facing awayfrom said cup, a valve shaped as a dish with its concave side directedtoward said valve seat to cooperate therewith, spring means centrallyconnected with the concave side of. said dish shaped valve and arrangednormally to hold said valve seated,v and a fiexiblemo'nnection connectedat one end with said pole and at its opposite end with the convex sideof said dish shaped valve, said tubular connection being mounted uponsaid pole toslide lengthwise or" the latter, said flexible connectionopening said valve when the pole is moved outwardly in said tubularconnection beyond a predetermined distance while the applicator cup isbeing held by suction. to an overhead lamp bulb.

16. The subject matter of claim 15, and the passage through said rigidtubular member having acontracted portion between said valve seat andthe applicator cup, and said valve having a central axial guideextension projecting into said contracted part of the passage.

ALVIN L. ODENTHAL.

No references cited.

